The Industrial Revolution
1700s-1900s
Characteristics of Pre-Industrial Society
• most people lived and worked on farms
• wealthy nobles controlled the land
• agricultural methods had not changed drastically for centuries
• people rarely travelled
• Inefficient methods were used to plant and harvest crops
• communication between towns and cities was slow and infrequent
• people supplemented their income by mining their land, working out of
their homes
• infant mortality high
• life expectancy short
Domestic System (Cottage Industry)
• Early industrial labor system in which people produced goods in their homes
• Textiles, Coal
• Workers typically completed a step of the manufacturing process in their
homes and then passed their portion onto another home for the next step
(Spinner, weaver, fuller, dryer)
• Benefits
• Workers set own hours
• Women cared for their children, completed domestic duties
• Children worked along side their parents
• Provided income during hard times
• Disadvantages:
Small Scale
Expense
The Agrarian Revolution (1690s-1710s)
• Increased Food Production from a change in the methods of farming.
• Enclosure Movement - Wealthy landowners ended open field system to increase
efficiency and productivity
• New Agricultural improvements
• New inventions/discoveries
• Crop rotation – used turnips to enrich the soil
• Seed Drill (Jethro Tull) – reduced seed waste
• Selective Breeding (Bakewell) – used only strongest and healthiest animals for breeding
• Results
• Improved the quantity, quality, and profitability of food
• Increased lifespan and infant mortality rates
• Small farmers forced off of farms to towns and cities to find work
Industrial Revolution (1700s-1900s)
• a major change in a country’s method of producing goods
and organizing labor
• a movement from:
• an agricultural to an industrial society
• manual labor to use of machines
• Rural society to an urban society
• Began – England in 1700s
• Textile Industry is first to Industrialize
Why England?
Agrarian Revolution
Good Labor Supply – large number of
able workers
Birthrates increased & death rates
decreased
Many workers were skilled and
educated
Natural resources & Geography
– coal, iron ore, waterways, resources
from colonies (wool, cotton)
Also England has many natural harbors
& navigable rivers
Government support
Laws to protect businesses
Patent laws encourage investment
No internal tariffs
Political stability – long standing
constitutional monarchy
Markets:
Colonies provided markets to sell
finished goods
New jobs and wealth created a cycle
of new markets (more $ made =
more money to spend)
Large demand for textiles (demand
exceeded supply)
Mobile Society –
ability to move up in society
Investment capital
– available money
No rigid class system
Wealthy landowners and
merchants
Work ethic admired
Strong banking system
Entrepreneur
Textiles – clothing
• Domestic system can’t meet rising demand for cotton
• New technologies invented to meet demand
• Usually First Industry to Industrialize
Invention
Flying Shuttle
Inventor
John Kay
Spinning Jenny
James Hargreaves
Faster Spinning
80 threads at 1 time
Water Frame
Richard Arkwright
Spinning machine running on waterpower
Spinning Mule
Samuel Crompton
Produced stronger thread
Power Loom
Edmund Cartwright
Faster weaving running on water or steam power
Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney
Cleaned Cotton 50X faster
Faster weaving
Impact
Industrial Developments and Other Inventions
Invention
Inventor
Impact
*Steam Engine
James Watt
Factories could run continuously away from water
*Steel
Henry Bessemer
Steam Boat
Robert Fulton
Answered industry’s need for a sturdy, workable
metal
Fast and inexpensive way to transport goods.
Telegraph
Samuel Morse
Using a system of dots and dashes it carried
information at high speeds
Radio
Guglielmo Marconi
First invented as the wireless telegraph
Telephone
A.G. Bell
Revolutionized communication
Electric Generator
Richard Trevithick
Made global economy possible
Phonograph
Thomas Edison
Produced sound,
Light bulb
Thomas Edison
Made Electric lighting inexpensive/accessible
Oil Burning InternalCombustion Engine
G. Daimler
Power for industry, RR, cars
Airplane
Wright Bros.
Revolutionized Transportation
*Steam Power and Steel made major contributions to
the Industrial Revolution
Steam Power:
• Cloth and other products were produced more efficiently
• Cost of producing textiles and other products was greatly
reduced
• Put hand producers out of business
• Factories could be run continuously
• Factories could be built anywhere
The Factory System
• Domestic System – method
of production in which goods
were produced at home in a
step process
• Factory System – method of
production in which a
finished product is made by
workers and machines in one
location (a factory) outside
their homes
• Mass Production – producing
huge quantities of identical goods
• Division of Labor (Fredrick Taylor)
– specialized tasks in a step-by
step process
• Interchangeable Parts – machine
made, identical, easily assembled
and exchanged
• Assembly Line (Henry Ford) –
implementation of specialized
tasks along a factory line
Factory System**
Domestic System*
Machine made
Hand made
Lower price
Higher price
Fewer Workers for same job
More workers for same job
Work in Factory
Work at home
Faster, More efficient
Slower, takes more time
Identical Products
Unique Products
Work on a schedule
Set your own hours
Mass production
Limited production
Larger markets
Limited markets
Specialized Tasks/Assembly line
Control all aspects of production
Increase in Quantity
Lower product output
Spread of Industrial Revolution
• Wealthy industrialist spread the Industrial Revolution to other
countries for profit
• Railroads and factories were built in the Colonies
• France, Germany and US (Samuel Slater) follow
• By 1870 US ranks with England and Germany as one of 3 most
industrial counties in the world
3. Working Conditions
• Worked 10-14 hr. days/6 Days a week
• Low wages
• Men, women and children worked
• Dangerous Conditions - unventilated rooms, cramped work spaces,
heavy machinery, dust and filth, few breaks, severe punishments
• No job security
Women & Children
Women Workers
Children Workers
• Worked in factories, mines, as
domestic servants
• Mill girls – single girls worked in
mill towns away from families
• Spent long hours away from
children
• Housework after 12-14 hour work
days
• Hazardous working conditions
• Paid 50% of male wages
• No longer worked along side
parents
• Started as early as 6 yrs old
• Paid 10% of male wages
• Few breaks
• Dangerous work – deformed
bodies, lost limbs, long-term
illness, sever punishments
Labor Unions
• group of workers formed to pressure business owners to improve
wages and working conditions
• Sit-ins – workers stopped working, refusing to leave to demonstrate
dissatisfaction
• Walk-out – topped working at a specific time and walked out
• Strikes – workers refused to return until demands were met
• Collective Bargaining – both sides meet to negotiate a compromise
• Slow downs – workers purposefully slow down production
A New Society
1. Rising Middle Class – a growing wealthy
class of industrialists, business owners,
and overseers
2. Growth of Urban Poor
• Men work, women stay home –
new men and women
stereotypes emerge
• Hired domestic help to help
with women’s domestic chores
• Boys went to school
• Girls prepared for marriage
• Once small rural farmers
• Depended on factory work for
livelihood
• No longer made or grew what
families need
• Lost jobs as competition for
factory jobs grew
Urbanization
•
•
•
•
•
5 out of 10 English lived in the city
Housing – dark, poorly constructed, badly ventilated, cramped
Unsanitary conditions – no garbage removal, in-door plumbing
Disease spread
Crime increased